[Upcoming Event] Gala Concert MPO 20th Anniversary

Kuala Lumpur, August
2018 - Tengku Irfan,
Malaysian music prodigy and piano virtuoso, recently announced as the Youth
Brand Ambassador for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). He will open
the MPO’s 20th anniversary special season with a concert on Friday, 17 August 2018 at 8.30 pm at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP).

This
is an auspicious date as it marks exactly 20 years after the MPO’s inaugural
concert at the venue on 17 August 1998. Since its inception, the MPO has stayed
true to its commitment to bring the best in classical music. Nonetheless, over
the years, it presented music of other genres to appeal to a wider audience. This
season, the MPO will continue to enhance the cultural landscape of Kuala Lumpur
through its innovative performances of world class standard.

Renowned conductor Jac van Steen will lead the MPO in a
programme of music infused with exceptional verve and brilliance; Bartered
Bride Overturecomposed by Smetana for one of the best comic operas in
the world and the wondrous Scheherazade, a music of intrigue
and adventures, composed by Rimsky-Korsakov
who masterfully exploited dazzling orchestral colours and sonorities.

Irfan will dazzle the audience
with his magic hands on the piano to perform Tchaikovsky’s lyrical Piano Concerto No.1. He will also step on the
podium to conduct the MPO through Dvorak’s Carnival Overture, conjuring the
whirl and frenetic bustle of a carnival, an apt choice of music for this celebratory
event.

A
musician of an exceptional calibre, Irfan started his piano lessons when he was
7 and is today a renowned pianist, composer and conductor in the international
music scene. He made his debut with the MPO at DFP in 2009 when he was 11,
enthralling the audience with his brilliant improvisation of ‘cadenzas’ on
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto. He went on to perform with the MPO in numerous
concerts including tours to Sabah and Sarawak, Vietnam and Japan.

Irfan
has also performed with the Malaysian
Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in 2015 and made his conducting debut at DFP
with this young orchestra in December 2017 before touring to Singapore together
that month.

Described
by The New York Times as ‘eminently cultured’, Irfan has soared high and
achieved the impossible; he became a prize winner at the Aspen Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.2 Competition, and has
collaborated with orchestras such as the Singapore Symphony, São Paulo State
Youth Orchestra and Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, and luminaries such as
Neeme Järvi, Nikolai Alexeev, Evan Rogister, Claudio Cruz and Darrell Ang.

Be
part of the MPO’s 20th anniversary celebration, a brilliant showcase
of a true Malaysian virtuosity, only at DFP!

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About Jack Chan Wah LoongWLJack is an active event blogger since 2011 and has done over hundreds of events coverage in Malaysia. Apart from that, he is also a full-time fully registered Doctor Medical Officer.